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| Image: FX |
Imagine a show with the impeccable style of Mad Men, story lines of international Bond-like intrigue and the crude, observant, intricate humor of Californication or Family Guy. It almost sounds too good to be true... but it's not.
Archer on FX might be the best kept secret on TV. Having now seen the full 10 episode first season, I can attest to its razor sharp wit and culturally laced references. This is only a "cartoon" with regards to production genre. The writing is superb and stylistically it trumps 95% of the live action comedies (or dramas for that matter) that exist on the telly. The artists create a fictional wardrobe worthy of envy down to the tie bars and pocket squares.
Sterling Archer, the show's leading man is an archetypal misogynist... an egotistical, pretty-boy prick. He resembles the bastard love child of Don Draper and Pierce Brosnan's Bond - an obvious carrier of a mutated form of the awesome gene. He's demeaning and despicable yet equal parts debonair and dumb... an all around delight to watch! Sarcasm pours out of him, like the booze into his mid-day cocktail. With his mother (voiced by Arrested Development alum Jessica Walter) at the helm of ISIS, the CIA-esque bastion of espionage, he can't help but be a spoiled, entitled douche. Part of you wants to be him and the other part wants to hit him in his squared-off, line-art jaw.
"And where the hell are you going!!!!?" yells his ex-lover/ curvy, abrasive partner Lana after discovering a palette of explosives on board the "rigid air ship" [read: blimp] Excelsior.
(Archer: in a white dinner jacket and bow tie, running to his room)
"I've gotta get my turtleneck... I'm not diffusing a bomb in this!?"
A similarly smug clothing reference comes during Episode 8 as he claims to have invented the idea of spies wearing black turtlenecks during covert ops: "I didn’t invent the turtle-neck, Lana, but I was the first to recognize it’s potential as a tactical garment. The tactical turtle-neck, Lana… the tactle neck!"
The job will always comes second to his own narcissism, mocking and selfish gain. He is a much better smart-ass than he will ever be a spy. Something I can relate to.
Ruggedly crude-humored, stylistically refined. Archer is in my top 5 shows to watch.
For more on Archer:
Official Archer Homepage: Full episodes and a slew of other insight.
Hulu: Currently offering 7 of the 10 episodes.
The GQ Verge: Interview with Archer co-creator and writer Adam Reed.
Archer on FX might be the best kept secret on TV. Having now seen the full 10 episode first season, I can attest to its razor sharp wit and culturally laced references. This is only a "cartoon" with regards to production genre. The writing is superb and stylistically it trumps 95% of the live action comedies (or dramas for that matter) that exist on the telly. The artists create a fictional wardrobe worthy of envy down to the tie bars and pocket squares.
 |
| Image: FX |
Sterling Archer, the show's leading man is an archetypal misogynist... an egotistical, pretty-boy prick. He resembles the bastard love child of Don Draper and Pierce Brosnan's Bond - an obvious carrier of a mutated form of the awesome gene. He's demeaning and despicable yet equal parts debonair and dumb... an all around delight to watch! Sarcasm pours out of him, like the booze into his mid-day cocktail. With his mother (voiced by Arrested Development alum Jessica Walter) at the helm of ISIS, the CIA-esque bastion of espionage, he can't help but be a spoiled, entitled douche. Part of you wants to be him and the other part wants to hit him in his squared-off, line-art jaw.
 |
| Image: FX |
"And where the hell are you going!!!!?" yells his ex-lover/ curvy, abrasive partner Lana after discovering a palette of explosives on board the "rigid air ship" [read: blimp] Excelsior.
(Archer: in a white dinner jacket and bow tie, running to his room)
"I've gotta get my turtleneck... I'm not diffusing a bomb in this!?"
 |
| Image: FX |
A similarly smug clothing reference comes during Episode 8 as he claims to have invented the idea of spies wearing black turtlenecks during covert ops: "I didn’t invent the turtle-neck, Lana, but I was the first to recognize it’s potential as a tactical garment. The tactical turtle-neck, Lana… the tactle neck!"
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| The tactle-neck in action |
The job will always comes second to his own narcissism, mocking and selfish gain. He is a much better smart-ass than he will ever be a spy. Something I can relate to.
Ruggedly crude-humored, stylistically refined. Archer is in my top 5 shows to watch.
For more on Archer:
Official Archer Homepage: Full episodes and a slew of other insight.
Hulu: Currently offering 7 of the 10 episodes.
The GQ Verge: Interview with Archer co-creator and writer Adam Reed.
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